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He should go back to Seattle and end his career where he started. He will get about 200 ABs (about 50 base hits in there), and when he gets a base hit in September (which of course will be a single), pinch-run for him and make that his last AB, so he ends his career on a hit. That will be a nice way for him to go out.

BDC: It doesn't seem weird at all to me. Pretty near every player leaves the game when their batting average gets too low to play. Exactly what constitutes too low to play depends on what power and defense he has. In Ichiro's case too low is anything below about .290.

I see your point, PASTE. I guess I always thought Ichiro might depart like Tony Gwynn, still hitting well over .300 but unable to do much else. Of course, Ichiro's been trending away from .300 for some time now

Gwynn, like Mark McGwire and Chipper Jones, left the game still a good player because he reached his breaking point with constantly getting injured and spending half his time rehabbing and the other half playing in pain. Those are rare exceptions, though. (In McGwire's case, you can hit .180 and still be effective if you hit a circuit clout every 12 at-bats and take a ton of walks.)

Maybe I'm too cynical but I can't imagine the presence of Suzuki inspiring ticket buying anywhere but Seattle. No other team will give the yankees something for Suzuki because they expect him to sell tickets for them.

Maybe I'm too cynical but I can't imagine the presence of Suzuki inspiring ticket buying anywhere but Seattle. No other team will give the yankees something for Suzuki because they expect him to sell tickets for them.

Eh, someone's going to give Nelson Cruz $12M+ a year, and he's not really any better.

Maybe I'm too cynical but I can't imagine the presence of Suzuki inspiring ticket buying anywhere but Seattle. No other team will give the yankees something for Suzuki because they expect him to sell tickets for them.

Going back to Japan to play out the last two or three years of his baseball career seems to me like a great idea for Ichiro on several levels, actually. Japanese teams would line up to take at least half of Ichiro's remaining contract from the Yankees, wouldn't they? I have to think he would sell tickets over there.

I mean, if he wants to stay in MLB and drive for 3,000 hits and one team out there is willing to put him in the lineup every day while he does so, great. I would imagine Houston or San Francisco or the Mets or somebody would be willing to play him every day if the Yankees pick up some of the freight. But I have no idea what Ichiro really wants. It seems clear he's going to be a part-time player if he stays with the Yankees.

Even at 40, he's still among the better baserunners and outfielders around, especially for part-time duty. Kind of weird that he would finally play his way out of a job due to low batting average :(

bWAR liked his defense last year but he made some really bad old-looking plays.

I do think he's a better chance for a 4th/5th OF than Wells.

Sadly, people heaped too much expectation on him. If we go back three years we had people arguing that he would keep churning out Ichiro! style seasons into through age 40 and beyond. Those people would be quite surprised to learn now that his career is about over at 40 and that he's unlikely to reach 3,000 hits. But really most players' careers are over well before 40, so it shouldn't be that surprising. It shows the unrealistic view people had of him as a player, to be surprised that a 40 year old can't play anymore.

I think Ichiro would be a pretty valuable 4th OF'er. Late inning defensive replacement for Beltran, and a CF backup for Ellsbury, pinch runner, etc. You probably need at least 60 games from someone to play when Ellsbury or Beltran does not.

There is nothing Wells does that you can't find from any replacement level OF'er

@22, yea was just going to post generally the same. Unless the Yankees are really that cash strapped they need to dump Ichiro's 6.5 million he's much more useful as a bench player than Wells. A 5th OF is going to start maybe once a week at most the rest of the time you want a late inning pinch runner and defensive replacement and someone who could man CF cromulently in an emergency, that's Ichiro, not Wells.

I'd bet much more on a dead cat bounce from the famously fit and dedicated Ichiro -- say 290/330/390 with solid baserunning and fielding than anything above replacement level from Wells.

Yes, Ichiro is better than Wells. And presumably one of these guys is at DH most of the time although possibly the Yanks will have to move Jeter there permanently. Ichiro could see a good bit of time as Beltran/Soriano defensive replacement.